earliest accounts and archaeological finds date from 1000 B.C., when—according to the Mahabharata epic, most revered of Hindu religious texts—the Pandavas and their cousins the Kauravas battled for the city of Indraprastha, thought to be located under the present ruins of Purana Qila, citadel of the sixth capital. But the earliest existing ruins date from A.D. 736, when the Tomara Rajputs, one of the self-anointed warrior clans to which Rajasthan gave birth, built the fortress Lal Kot, around which grew Qila Rai Pithora, today known as the first city of Delhi. In 1180 the Tomaras were ousted by the Chauhan Rajputs, who were in turn forced back to Rajasthan by the Slave King Qutb-ud-din Aibak, a Turkish general. He built the Qutb Complex, which remains one of the most interesting sights in the city (see “The Top Attractions,” later in this section). Aibak served under the Afghani Muhammad Ghori until Ghori’s assassination in 1206. Aibak took over the Indian spoils of war, founding the Delhi Sultanate, which was to rule Delhi and the surrounding region for almost 2 centuries. In 1303, the Delhi Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji built the second city, Siri, near present-day Hauz Khas. Then the Tughluqs built Tughlaqabad, 8km (5 miles) east of the Qutb Complex, but this was deserted in 1321 and little remains of the third city. After a brief sojourn in latter-day Maharashtra, the Tughluqs moved the city again in 1327, this time between Lal Kot and Siri, and named this fourth city Jahanpanah. A mere 27 years later it was moved again, this time some distance north to an eminently sensible position on the Yamuna River. Named Ferozabad, this sprawling fifth city was, according to legend, one of the richest in the world. But how the mighty do fall or, according to the Persian prophecy, “Whoever builds a new city in Delhi will lose it.” Timur drove the Tughluqs out of Delhi, and while his successors, the Sayyids and Lodis, did not build brand-new cities, their tombs are found scattered in the appropriately named Lodi Gardens. Their defeat by the Mughal Babur signaled the end of Sultanate rule and the start of the Mughal empire, one of the world’s greatest medieval dynasties, which ruled the region for over 200 years.
It was Babur who first moved the capital to nearby Agra, but his son Humayun chose to return to Delhi in 1534, only to be forced into exile by the advancing army of the Afghan Sher Shah, who took possession of Purana Qila (literally “old fort”) in 1540, rebuilt this sixth city, and renamed the citadel Shergarh. Fifteen years later, Humayun finally ousted the Afghan, only to die an ignominious death a year later, falling down his library steps—his tomb, which can be seen from the southern gate of Purana Qila, remains one of Delhi’s top attractions.
Humayun’s son, Akbar—generally revered for his religious tolerance and diplomacy—again chose to move the capital back to Agra. Only after Akbar’s grandson, Shah Jahan, built the Taj Mahal for his wife, did Delhi again become the capital in 1638. Shah Jahan, the greatest architect of the Mughal dynasty, rebuilt an entirely new city, using materials from the ruins of Ferozabad (and, it is said, leaving the corpses of criminals to settle in the foundations). Not known for his humility, he named it Shahjahanabad. Shahjahanabad is still very much inhabited, and is today usually referred to as “Old Delhi,” home to many of the city’s top attractions. After Shah Jahan was viciously deposed by his son, Aurangzeb (see ”The Life & Times of the Mughal Emperors,” later in this chapter), Mughal power began to wane, and with it the importance of Delhi. It was only with the advent of British power that Delhi again played a pivotal role in the affairs of India. After the “Indian Mutiny” (or “The First War of Independence,” depending on who’s talking), a direct result of the racist and exploitative policies of the British East India Company, India was annexed by Britain as its colony in 1858, and Delhi was declared the capital of the Raj in 1911. The last (at least for the time being) of Delhi’s cities